Jackson King
Name: Jackson King Gender: Male Age: 16 School: Davison Secondary School Hobbies and Interests: Music, Singing, Guitar, Running Track Appearance: Jackson is someone whose mixed African/Mexican ethnicity can be difficult to pin down, based on his physical features alone. His skin is a deep mahogany matched by a similarly colored pair of eyes. His hair, so dark it is almost black, is cut short and is only slightly on the coarse side. He has a broad nose and round, almost cherubic face that stays clean of facial hair, making Jackson looking considerably younger than he actually is. This is helped by the slightness of his frame; Jackson weighs only 135 pounds, and this barely fills out his body at its height of 5'11". Despite his extracurricular activities, Jackson still has a degree of softness to his body that mirrors the youth in his face. Jackson's clothing tastes reflect the withdrawn, low-key nature of his personality. He tends toward long-sleeve shirts of a lighter fabric, baggy pants, and usually some sort of hat or head adornment to cover his hair. On the day of casting, Jackson was wearing a blue button down short sleeve shirt over a long sleeved grey shirt, navy jeans, worn-out FILA running shoes, and a black fitted baseball cap with an unbroken brim. Biography: Jackson was born because of music. More specifically, Tyrone King, a self-employed guitarist and singer working an Albequerque nightclub with his band (A jazz/funk revival and cover group), was playing a set at one of their regular joints when he was struck by the sight of one Julia Vargas with a group of her friends, dressed to the nines and having a night on the town. At the end of their songs, Tyrone met Vargas out on the dance floor with the intent of picking her up, not knowing she had similarly scouted him. The night ended in an amorous encounter at Tyrone's apartment. The morning, however, yielded that the two had a further connection than a physical one. Over the course of the next year Julia became a faithful attendee of many of Tyrone's performances, and this interest and fascination grew into a real relationship. The two married a year and a half after they first met, right around the time Tyrone's musical career started to spike and their first and only son, Jackson, was born. The family did well for themselves, though the hours Julia and Tyrone kept meant a strain on the time they actually spent together. Much of Jackson's initial raising was done by his grandmother on Tyrone's side of the family. Tyrone was often away from home playing gigs, earning his half of the bread in the King unit while Julia had him between shifts as an ICU clerk at the local hospital. His grandmother was an old-fashioned, almost authoritarian guardian, and so despite growing up to two boisterous, outgoing parents, Jackson grew up exceedingly quiet and reserved. Oftentimes he would spend part of the evening with his grandmother after school, doing homework (he had an affinity especially for math) until Julia picked him up after work. His grandmother wasn't one to let him go out with neighbor kids and play, and so he kept mostly to himself. Julia and Tyrone were at times bewildered by their own son, so at odds with their own personalities was he. However, Jackson did show one connection with his parents, and that was their love of music. Once, when he was 8 and his father was playing a rare gig at home, Tyrone took him to the club he was working to watch him play. The band made it halfway through a jazz set when Tyrone could see a new light in his son's eyes. After the show, Tyrone asked Jackson what he got out of the night. Jackson stated his desire to do the same thing he saw his father do. Later, Tyrone floated the idea past Julia, who was ecstatic with the idea of getting her quiet little son to do something, anything. They hired someone to give Jackson vocal and guitar lessons, to build a technical foundation. Whenever Tyrone was home and could, he would impart his personal touch on Jackson's budding national talents. It helped that Jackson certainly was talented. He showed remarkable dexterity with the guitar and affinity for learning whatever he was taught. His singing voice was deep, silky, and soulful, dissonant from the near-whisper of his speaking voice. Even as he learned at an alarming rate, Jackson branched off, listening to music across a broad spectrum of genres. One day he would be picking out chords from a 70s disco hit, the next singing to himself nineties R&B love ballads. Tyrone was ecstatic with his son's ability, but Julia wanted her son to have a little versatility and the best education possible, to ensure he wouldn't be living from gig-to-gig like his father. Over the course of several discussions, Tyrone and Julia opted to send Jackson to Davison High School, in hopes of ensuring he came out ahead once college loomed. At Julia's further encouragement, Jackson set about doing things to build up a hypothetical resume for college admissions. He started runnning track, and while he hasn't proven exceptionally good at it, he stuck with it. In addition, by the suggestion of a counselor, Jackson started volunteering at the local library in the children's section. Oftentimes one can find him on Sundays running a singalong for the kids, sometimes even impromptu singing lessons. He has in fact found that he likes helping the children so much that becoming a music teacher is a real option in his future, though he has yet to let his parents know of this idea. Jackson has, for the most part, kept under the social radar at school. It has not been his prerogative to be a social butterfly, though he can hold conversations if approached about the right subject, which has gained him a small group of friends. He is still extraordinarily shy, despite the inherent performance-centric bent of his favored hobby. He has performed once in the school talent show, and though that day has faded into memory he still garners some sort of recognition for exhibiting what he spends most of his time doing. The school is Jackson's only real connection to SOTF-TV. He had heard about it as he was growing up, but it didn't have much appeal for him, short of one season having an odd electronica/funk hybrid theme song that he had heard online before while browsing a music website that he dug. Since then he occasionally turns it on to listen to whatever music might be playing. As SOTF-TV is so encompassing, there is the occasional musical talent using the show as a springboard for their career, and Jackson likes to watch out for new developments. Advantages: Jackson keeps to himself, so it's unlikely anyone harbors any enmity toward him. His experience with performing arts may be indicative of a certain steadiness of nerve that will serve him well in such a situation of strong pressure. From his athletic endeavors he has gained a decent amount of cardio, stamina, and footspeed. Disadvantages: Jackson lacks a strong group of friends to rely on, and as he is not the greatest conversationalist it will be difficult for him to forge new ones. Though running track has made him more in shape, Jackson is not a physically strong individual, and would be easy to overpower in a direct confrontation. Designated Number: Golden Hyenas 5 (GH5). ---- Designated Weapon: Zap 'Em Handshake Gag Mentor Comment: "If this were West Side Story, or Pitch Perfect, or even a drunk karaoke contest I'd be pulling for this kid. But in this case, he might wanna hide behind the Turkish dude. Or use that track experience and run till his feet bleed." Evaluations Handled By: 'outfoxd '''Kills: '''None '''Killed By: 'Cathryn Bailey 'Collected Weapons: '''Zap 'Em Handshake Gag '''Allies: 'Anastasia Arcadia, Shawn Thornton, Sebastien Bellamy, Alice Young 'Enemies: 'Jewel Evans, Ashley Namath, Vahka Basayev, Cathryn Bailey 'Mid-game Evaluation: ' 'Post-Game Evaluation: ' '''Memorable Quotes: Other/Trivia Threads Below is a list of threads that contain Jackson, in chronological order Sandbox: *Albuquerque Arcade SOTF-TV: *Killer Munchies *Bitter Dream *Cursed, Hexed, Spellbound *You Remind Me *Discordant *The Final Curtain *Production Costs Your Thoughts Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Jackson. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here! Category:SOTF-TV Category:Characters